As of: March 12, 2024, 5:17 p.m
By: Florian Neuroth
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Is the term “vegetarian steak” confusing?
Yes, says the French government and stipulates that in the future only meat products may be called this way.
Paris – They are a hit in the supermarket: vegan meatballs, plant-based salami and veggie grilled sausages.
Such alternatives to supposedly unhealthy meat are increasingly appearing on grocery shelves, where they are often confusingly similar to the original.
Not everyone likes that, as is now evident in France.
A new regulation now applies in the neighboring country: Vegetarian products may no longer be marketed using meat terms.
The French government defined what these terms are last week.
A list published on Tuesday (February 27) contains all the words that will in future be reserved for purely animal products.
Steak, schnitzel, ham or fillet - in France you can now only read these and other names on packaging that actually contains meat.
Meat substitutes are common on supermarket shelves these days.
In France, vegetarian alternatives are no longer allowed to be marketed using meat terms.
© imago images/Joerg Boethling
In France, vegetarian products are no longer allowed to be marketed using meat terms
The change comes with a delay of several years.
The government in Paris had actually already decided in 2020 that terms that are traditionally associated with meat and fish could no longer be used for vegetarian products.
The meat processing industry had long been calling for such a regulation.
The head of the Association of French Livestock Breeders and Meat Processors, Jean-François Guilhard, once hailed this as a “significant step in favor of information transparency for consumers and the preservation of our products and our know-how”.
The term “vegetarian sausage” should be banned in France as early as 2022
The ban was supposed to come into force in October 2022, but was then suspended by the Supreme Administrative Court.
The background was that the consumer organization Protéines France had sued.
Opponents of the new regulation argued at the time that the marketing ban would cause confusion.
The meat industry saw it the same way, but exactly the other way around.
Products marketed as “vegetarian sausage” or “vegetable steak” would confuse consumers, producers said.
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Now the government has adjusted the regulation.
Some products with a small proportion of vegetable proteins can therefore continue to be marketed as meat products.
This includes, among other things, sausages or cordon bleu.
EU producers can continue to sell vegetarian substitute products with meat names
Producers from other EU countries can also continue to sell in France.
Your vegetarian foods with meat names are not affected by the new law.
Apart from dairy substitutes, equivalent terms may be used for animal products under EU legislation.
According to the French newspaper Le Monde, individuals who violate the new regulation could face a fine of up to 1,500 euros.
For companies, the amount can increase to up to 7,500 euros.
However, producers would still have a year to sell their inventory.
There has been a long-standing debate about how healthy a vegan diet actually is.
Copenhagen researchers came to a clear answer.
Meanwhile, in Belgium, a start-up has used a very special DNA to develop vegan meat products that taste juicy like real meat.
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